Ginger Beer - help

[ChrisUk]

I am on my second lot of Ginger Beer now. I made a yeast/sugar/ginger plant and then fed it ginger and sugar every day for seven days. The first lot I made, I made with fresh ginger, thinking that would taste better, but I used the same amount as in the recipe and it did not taste gingery at all.

So for the second lot I have used dried ginger and I think it's already tastier. I have to leave it for 7 days to mature.

I am worried that it won't last that long. The first lot, even though it wasn't very tasty was drinkable for about 4 days and then went off. I thought ginger beer would last much longer.

For the first lot I boiled the plant after diluting it with water and adding about 100 g sugar/l. I also added 2 lemons. I assumed that the lemons and sugar would keep the ginger beer from turning and I'll be able to leave it outside the fridge. (I make 1 gallon at a time and can't put it all in the fridge).

For the second lot, not only did I use dried ginger but I tried the dry and sparkling method, adding the same amount of water (1 gallon) but only 2 oz of sugar and instead of lemon juice I added1 teaspoon of ascorbic acid. I filled the ginger beer into washed milk bottles. Maybe I need to use glass bottles?

Does anyone know, what I am doing wrong? Does anyone even understand my ramblings

I am a novice at brewing as you may have guessed, so any tips would be very much appreciated.

 

[bigdaddy3k]

If its anything like regular beer, it needs to be bottled and capped to keep it from going over. I have no experience with Ginger Beer though.

Try putting some in a 2 liter pop bottle and cap it up. Just to see if it lasts longer.

 

[froggythefrog]

All I can say is good luck. I love ginger beer!

 

[ChrisUk]

The second lot of ginger beer was not too bad. Very refreshing with some squash but still not gingery enough. I am trying only dried ginger this time and the plant has much more of a kick already. Will be ready on Wednesday ...

 

[ChrisUk]

Actually it wasn't ready yesterday. I forgot that I have to let it mature for a week. It smelled heavenly when I bottled it though.

 

[bigdaddy3k]

Thanks for the update. Keep me in the loop!!!

 

[ChrisUk]

Just to keep you up to date, the third lot of Ginger beer did keep longer and as we were away for Easter matured for 2 weeks. The flavour is still not stunning but mixed with squash it's a very refreshing drink. Now I am on ginger beer lot 4. This time I am using fresh yeast, just in case that makes a different and more sugar. It's just not as sparkly as commercial ginger beer. We'll be ready for bottling next Thursday.

 

[ChrisUk]

Stopped making ginger beer for a while now. It wasn't unpleasant but not as nice as I thought it might be.

Just a few days ago I found a home brewing shop in my town, all tucked away in the market!! They sell ginger beer kits. May try this next but at the moment it's elderflower time and I am on my third lot of elderflower sirup, delicious.